This invention relates to convection ovens for cooking foods and methods of enhancing the cooking in a convection oven.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,870 discloses a convection oven for cooking foods in which air is circulated in a cooking chamber where a food holder, such as a basket, holds the food to be cooked. While this patent discloses an oven that enhances the cooking of the food, the cooking can be further enhanced by introducing external air into the cooking chamber through a flue at the bottom of the chamber. The cooking can also be enhanced by spacing the food holder a distance away from the front and back walls of the cooking chamber.
This invention provides a flue at the bottom of the oven to introduce cooler external air into the cooking chamber of a convection oven in the vicinity of the lower heating elements of the oven. Preferably the air is introduced through a flue opening located in the bottom of the oven. The oven also has a drip tray located below the flue opening. A sloping bottom wall allows food drippings to gravitate downwardly out the opening. It has been found that by introducing external air in through the bottom of the cooking chamber in the vicinity of the lower heating elements of the oven, that cooler air mixes with the turbulent heated air circulating in the oven to enhance the cooking of the food by better mixing of the air and cooling the food holder and the lower surface of the food above the lower heating elements.
A second feature of the invention is to provide a food holder configured and sized so as to provide air circulation gaps between the front and rear holder sides and the adjacent sides of the cooking chamber for enhanced cooking uniformity of the food in the food holder.